The weird thing about learning how to drive stick is that I don't remember what was so difficult about it.

I remember stalling a lot, and I remember deep, deep seated fear about it.

Very specifically I remember driving my friend's '81 Accord across the neighborhood one night. The clutch pedal was endlessly long and soft, with a bite point different from my parents' old Volvo. I don't remember how it was different, just that it was.

I got the car out of one driveway and onto the street before coming up to a big red light intersection. I can still recall how anxious I was, knowing that I would have to shift from first to second halfway through the intersection while turning! I can't believe how challenging that seemed.

I don't know how useful my earlier trips to parking lots with my dad had been, at least compared to my first nerve-wracking drives on the road, hills and traffic and all.

How did you learn how to drive stick, and what can you remember from it? What worked, and what didn't?